Undated handout conceptual handout image of the interchange project in downtown Minneapolis. The Minnesota Twins has made a bid to partner with Hennipen County on the project, which will be the hub for the Hiawatha, Central Corridor, NorthStar and, they hope, the Southwest line. County wants it done by the time the season opens in 2014. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press: Perkins Eastman Architects)

The Minnesota Twins are negotiating with Hennepin County to become a partner in developing a $79 million year-round entertainment plaza adjacent the future light-rail hub near Target Field and leading into the ballpark’s north side entrance.

As planned, the plaza would open in time for the 2014 All-Star Game in Minneapolis.

A partnership deal would give the Twins a financial and programming stake in the transportation hub that soon will connect the downtown North Loop neighborhood east to downtown St. Paul, south to the airport, north as far as St. Cloud and potentially southwest into some of the Twin Cities’ most affluent suburbs.

The Twins’ proposal to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners is a joint effort with United Properties, a residential and commercial development company owned by the Pohlad family, which also owns the baseball team.

Among benefits up for grabs: naming rights, revenue from a new 300-space parking structure and a 30,000-square-foot parcel open to mixed-use development within steps of a 60,000-square-foot plaza that will serve commuters riding an estimated 500 trains a day by 2018, when the Southwest light-rail project might come online.

United Properties, which is based in Bloomington, recently bought and helped refurbish the former Minneapolis Ford assembly plant into an office complex across Fifth Street North from the transit-hub project, which is being called the Interchange.

The county envisions both a transit hub that operates 365 days a year and a public site for year-round events — from farmers’ markets to movie nights — surrounded by retail and residential development.

McLaughlin even envisions an ice rink on the site each winter.

Interchange project manager Ed Hunter said the Twins’ proposal is confidential during negotiations. And McLaughlin stressed that the negotiations are just that — the sides are negotiating on which rights would be involved and whether they would be leased or bought.

“The form of conveyance of rights is fluid,” McLaughlin said. “It’s what’s agreed upon that matters.”

Hunter said the Interchange plaza will be completed with or without a partner; it must be finished in time for the Central Corridor light-rail project, which — like the Hiawatha Line running south to the Mall of America and the airport — will end at what is now called Target Field Station when passenger service begins in 2014.

The plaza already has been designed and is under way.

“The county is not in the frame of mind that this becomes an extension of the ballpark,” Hunter said.

The county sees benefits from a partnership with the area’s most conspicuous tenant. For one thing, a partner would help defray the cost of the $79.3 million project, which is being funded mostly by state ($23 million), county ($10.8 million) and federal ($20.5 million) money.

The Twins’ interest, team president Dave St. Peter said, is primarily in the plaza. It will lead fans from the Interchange to Target Field, regardless of whether the Twins are a partner. The team estimates 20 percent of its fans take the light-rail and Northstar lines to its games, a number that could increase to 30 percent when the Central Corridor line is operational.

“Our interest in this is not based on any view of a potential revenue windfall,” St. Peter said. “It’s much more civic oriented in terms of maintaining and building on a partnership with Hennepin County to create and program a great public space.”

St. Peter said that even though United Properties and the Twins are “sister companies,” United Properties’ development in the area would not in any way expand the team’s expenses.

“I wish it were that simple,” he said.

Nevertheless, there is money to be made. McLaughlin described the negotiations as a discussion over “who gets to sell the hot dogs.”

The naming rights are certainly worth money, and St. Peter said there is an interest in keeping those rights homogenous in an area dominated by Twins corporate sponsor, Minneapolis-based Target Corp. The pedestrian plaza on the opposite side of the ballpark, bridging Interstate 394, for instance, is called Target Plaza and paved with bricks creating large Target logos.

“The Twins already have an agreement in place with Metro Transit for the naming of the Target Field Station stop,” St. Peter said.

“With continuity in mind, the Twins feel strongly that Target Field Station should be carried over to this new space.”

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

It was clear early on that the Gophers women’s basketball team was in for a physical game against Army. Minnesota didn’t seem to mind all the hands, elbows and hips directed its way — the Gophers play in the Big Ten, after all — and earned a 70-52 victory over the Black Knights on Thursday night at Williams Arena. “I...

Top-seeded Concordia-St. Paul will make its ninth appearance in the NCAA Division II national semifinals after defeating No. 8 American International in three sets Thursday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Golden Bears (33-2), who won 25-6, 25-16, 25-13, will face No. 5 Lewis at 7:30 p.m. Friday. No. 6 Alaska-Anchorage and No. 2 Palm Beach...

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors pushed aside the Minnesota Timberwolves — again. With Toronto down 95-94 with 8:46 left, DeRozan and Lowry keyed a 17-4 Raptors run that took the game away from the youthful Timberwolves. Toronto eventually pulled out a 124-110 victory, handing Minnesota its 13th straight loss at Air Canada Centre. “We just...

Members of the Missouri Tigers volleyball team are ready to have about 5,500 people rooting against them Friday night at 7:15 p.m. when they take on Minnesota’s Golden Gophers in the first round of the NCAA volleyball Minneapolis regional. “We’ve competed against a Big Ten team (Purdue, whom 27-5 Missouri defeated to advance to the regional semifinal) and that wasn’t a...

Unafraid of introducing his players to advanced statistics, Gophers coach Richard Pitino routinely tells his squad where they stand among college basketball’s top teams in stats not included in a box score. He prints out charts that combine traditional and advanced statistics, discusses them with players at practice and has an assistant track them during games to help with adjustments....

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was optimistic punt returner Marcus Sherels will be able to play Sunday at Jacksonville, which would be a boost to a special-teams unit that struggled in several phases in last week’s loss to Dallas. Sherels has missed three of the past four games because of injury, including the previous two. Adam Thielen and Cordarrelle Patterson assumed...